Pritchard draws positives from French outing | RallyBuzz

by Scott Coursey

Builth Wells based Jason Pritchard, the newly re-crowned MSA R2 British Rally Champion, was the class of the field on his recent outing to France for the Rallye Le Touquet, where the 21 year old ran inside the top three in his class for most of the rally.

British Rally Elite member Jason and co-driver Andrew Edwards were contesting the event in an effort to clinch the British Citroen Racing Trophy but as well as facing their season long rival Martin McCormack the pair would also be going up against some of the best drivers that France had to offer as the Rallye Le Touquet was the final round of the 2009 French National Championship. With no less than 12 Citroen C2R2’s in the field of over 140 cars the Welsh pairing were hoping for a good showing.

Three stages on Friday night gave the crews a taste of things to come and the FCS Laser Mail, Competition Car Insurance and North Road Garage backed pair excelled in the dark conditions, returning to Le Touquet in 17th position overall and leading the R2 class by almost 10 seconds!

Overnight rain saw the crews all opt for wet weather tyres on Saturday but with Pritchard running on an old compound tyre for the first loop he struggled for grip and gradually fell down the leaderboard, returning to mid day service fourth in class. Minor setup changes and new rubber for the afternoon loop helped initially with a set of quick times moving Jason back up to second before a spin once more saw Pritchard end the day in third.

Sunday morning was a disaster as Jason slid off the road half way through the opening stage, flattening a hedge and coming to a halt in a front garden! Although the little Citroen was completely undamaged the marshals refused to allow the spectators to help pull the car back onto the road and the Welshmen’s strong run was at an end!

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Judge denies woman's effort to stop O'Quinn car sale

09.08.10

Darla Lexington’s effort to stop the sale of almost $5 million in rare cars collected by her longtime companion Houston lawyer John O’Quinn screeched to a halt today when a county probate judge gave this weekend’s auction a green light.

Judge Mike Wood’s ruling was good news for managers of O’Quinn’s estate and the charitable foundation he created. Lawyers for those entities on Friday argued that a massive debt, placed by a knowledgeable source at about $90 million, could go into default if the cars were not sold.

Lexington’s lawyer argued the five cars, including three Corvettes, a rare French Talbot-Lago and a one-of-a-kind Mercedes Benz, had been gifts from O’Quinn and should be exempted from the sale.

Lexington had been O’Quinn’s companion for more than a decade, and, at the time of the lawyer’s death in a car wreck last October, the pair had collected more than 800 vintage and rare vehicles.

Source: Houston Chronicle